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Our motto: "Big enough to serve, small enough
to care" was coined not by us but by a satisfied
customer who sent us these words along with his loan
payment.
What
better testimonial to the spirit of personalized service
that characterizes our business philosophy!
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PHOTO BOOTHS: THE ‘NEW OLD’ IN THE COIN-OP BUSINESS
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Newton, MA - May 13, 2010 -
Anyone over a certain age fondly remembers jamming a few friends into a photo booth for some tacky black and white photo strips – keepsakes to remember a day at the carnival or the bowling center with friends.
Chances are those old booths were made using chemicals to develop the photo strip. Today, based in Baychester, NY, Allen Weisberg runs Apple Industries, a leading maker of the 21st century photo booth. His Apple Photo Booths (APB) use a Mitsubishi printer and heat transfer technology. Apple Industries’ line of Face Place Photo Booths use an inkless Polaroid black and white printer which duplicate the old fashioned style of the chemical photo strips. The new “Face Place Deluxe” uses the same Mitsubishi printer and software as the Apple Photo Booth (APB) line, enabling this photo both to produce both color and black and white photo strips, similar to later model chemical machines.
“Of course I think every coin-op route operator should add photo booths to their routes,” says Weisberg, “Once an operator runs the numbers they will agree, it’s a no-brainer.”
Weisberg says Apple Industries’ photo booths, which are sold to operators through distribution channels, cost about $8,000 each. With financing deals available through Firestone Financial, a unit that does 100 vends per week can bring a profit to the operator (after film cost and store commission) of $700 per month per machine. He says, “The machine can pay for itself in approximately one year. Once you add Firestone financing to these numbers, you create a very good cash flow to your route operation. But the key with photo booths is that they’re not as much a fad as many other coin-op machines. The typical booth stays in service for 25 years. Investing in a photo booth is like buying an annuity,” Weisberg smiles. Today’s booths are low maintenance giving 600 vends between refills. The average photo strip sells for $3.00, although a $5.00 vend is getting more popular.
Jim Hines, Vice President of Sales for Firestone Financial, agrees that operators should always be assessing their locations and might want to consider installing photo booths at restaurants and bars, and family entertainment centers. “We recently had a group of route operators purchase and finance a large number of Apple’s photo booths to be installed in a chain of movie theaters,” Hines says. “It’s just good business to add new types of machines to your mix. Firestone makes it possible by help operators leverage capital to put income-generating units on the street.”
Allen Weisberg says photo booths have intergenerational appeal. “Teens who rarely make prints from their digital camera photos, enjoy making color and black & white photo strips as a novelty memento. Grandparents recall the good old days and are excited to pose with their grandchildren. Also, these booths are recession-proof. People like to walk away with something tangible – like a lasting photo -- a $3.00 or $5.00 vend is perceived as a good value by the consumer.” Everyone likes to “Get the Picture”. -- By Stanley Hurwitz
Contact:
Jim Hines at 800.851.1001 / websales@firestonefinancial.com
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